


if you wanna be my lover (you gotta get with my friends)

by TuliaNayeli



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Character Study, Contemplation, F/M, Introspection, Jughead Jones-centric, Jughead really loving Betty Cooper, Jughead's angsty musings, The core four, but not really angsty this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 21:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13960830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TuliaNayeli/pseuds/TuliaNayeli
Summary: Even a mere month ago, he wouldn’t have grabbed a coffee with Veronica Lodge even if he wanted to (he didn’t). They were too busy with everything going on to think about trivial things like getting to know the significant other of their best friend or best friend of their significant other (too busy to be teenagers, Fred would say. And while Jughead has never thought of himself as a typical teenager with the average aspirations and problems, he might have to agree).And yet, here he is. Rolling his eyes fondly at a snobbish mean girl turned fierce friend.





	if you wanna be my lover (you gotta get with my friends)

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! This is my first dabble into writing for the Riverdale fandom. I have no illusions about having managed to capture Jughead’s very unique narrative style, but it was fun to write regardless. It’s just a quick little thing I came up with. 
> 
> This takes place in an AU about a week or two after the gang saw the video of Jason’s murder. Fred was never shot. Season 2 is not a thing (yet). Hope ya like it!

A brooding outsider and a former New York socialite sharing a coffee, talking about their respective girlfriend and boyfriend, a sweet girl next door and musician wannabe football star. The conversation starts out stilted, awkward. But when your significant other is the other’s best friend, there are enough stories to share and after a while, both conversation and coffee flow easily. They share a croissant and a new understanding when they finally leave the café after almost three hours. The socialite hooks her arm into the outsider’s and rests her head on his shoulder.

_Looks like the four of us might built an epic friendship after all, don’t you think?_

The brooding outsider rolls his eyes but doesn’t disagree

 

If you would’ve told Jughead this story a year ago, he would’ve scoffed. Not only are Hallmark movies the epitome of everything storytelling shouldn’t be, the real world also doesn’t work like that.

Even a mere month ago, he wouldn’t have grabbed a coffee with Veronica Lodge even if he wanted to (he didn’t). They were too busy with everything going on to think about trivial things like getting to know the significant other of their best friend or best friend of their significant other (too busy to be teenagers, Fred would say. And while Jughead has never thought of himself as a typical teenager with the average aspirations and problems, he might have to agree).

And yet, here he is. Rolling his eyes _fondly_ at a snobbish mean girl turned fierce friend.

Here he is. Shrugging of his jacket and handing it to said girl. Not even bothering to pretend to believe her when she makes a snide comment about the state of his jacket. Please, he knows Veronica has a soft spot for what she calls his _hobo chic but somehow it works for him_ style (he’s not supposed to know this, but what can he say. Betty’s not the only one with puppy eyes.)

He’s still a bit unclear as to how exactly they ended up in their current situation.

Okay no. He could tell you the story. He could tell you how the events that led to this moment transpired. He could tell you all the details of all the factors involved, like he can with so much of the stories that take place in Riverdale.

He’s just not sure how _he_ ended up here.

 

The relatively narrow minded people of Riverdale never bothered much with outsiders. And so they allowed him, the ultimate outsider he might’ve said once, to slip through their masses unnoticed.

What the people of Riverdale did and did not bother with, was their own business, and not something he particularly cared about anyways. But at the still fairly innocent age of eight he realized that no one really bothered with him. Not the most desirable realization for a child.

His dad tried a lot but fucked up more. His mom tried to hold herself together and protect little Jellybean. He was expected to fend for himself. So really it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that when his mother left, she only took JB (but it did and it _hurt_ ).

And yeah, Archie was an amazing best friend and more than he could’ve hoped for. But the guy was a little fickle at times. And well, people like Reggie and the others barged through his life, never once stopping to look back at the mess they left in their wake. He supposes life must be easy, when lived like that.

 

But now. After years of fending for himself, sticking to the shadows and never really letting anyone in. There she was.

Betty. His wonderful, amazing, sweet, beautiful, _constant_ Betty. Who cared for him. Challenged him, loved him, and most importantly, stayed with him.

It’s ironic really, at the time a boy was brutally murdered, he felt so sorry for himself. Felt more alone than he ever did. But as Riverdale slowly unravelled what had happened that faithful fourth of July and more and more horrors slowly surfaced, he slowly started to feel less and less alone.

Because where he had been an observer in his own life before all of this, he was starting to become a participant. Someone who was friends with Archie, not only in his house, but also at school, out in the open. Someone who had a girlfriend with whom he went on dates and walked to her classes. Someone who became, albeit a bit grudgingly, friends with new people. Kevin, Josie, Cheryl (well, friends might be a lit optimistic), Valerie and most turbulent of all, Veronica.

 

He didn’t trust Veronica at first. (How could he? The sentence her dad and his dad had gotten showed exactly how fucking _unfair_ this world was. He knew that already of course. But she, she just made it that much more clear.) So he treated her just like Kevin. Accepting that they made his Bets happy but always waiting for them to screw up (everybody always did).

Watching from the side-lines and not bothering with more than a witty quip every once in a while. But then she had to go and get involved with his best friend (okay, Archie got involved with a lot of girls and he rarely cared). And more importantly, she got caught up in Riverdale’s special, suburban brand of crazy. And she stuck with Betty, with _him_ through all of it. She even tried to help his father.

So when she came barging into homeroom yesterday he merely rolled his eyes, wondering what got her worked up this time, but knowing all the same that he would help her fix it. And it felt weird, knowing that he could look over to not only Betty and Archie but also Kevin and sometimes even Cheryl to share a look of understanding.

It felt a lot like the beginning of a heady summer’s day. Nice, but unsure whether it would end in a beautiful sundown or a thunderstorm.

“Jones. You, me, _Chez Moi_ in Greendale. Tomorrow after school. Smithers will pick us up.”

And with that, Veronica gracefully sat down on the arm of the couch next to Kevin, already chattering away about his latest swipes right.

He looks over to Betty, hoping to find some consolation there, but she merely shakes her head and laughs fondly. Seems like he was to question this strange turn of events by himself then.

“Uhm. Yeah. Veronica?”

When the raven haired girl looks over he simply raises his eyebrows. He trust her social skills enough to know she’ll see the question behind them ( _Since when the fuck are we having coffee dates?_ )

“Oh come on Jughead. I’m dating Archiekins, your best friend, you’re dating B, my best girl and Archie and Betty have been friends since forever. I want us to get close as well. It’s going to be fun, I promise.”

And with not only her pleading eyes on him (they were too devious to really push him), but also Archie’s (cute but not really with his heart in it, he probably didn’t understand the significance either) and most importantly Betty’s (when has he ever been able to say no to that?) he gives in.

 

So really, maybe he does know how the outsider ended up grabbing coffee with the socialite. It’s because their core group of four had bonded going through trauma and came out on top. It’s because Veronica was still trying to change her old bitchy ways, honestly wanting to make an effort. It’s because he did like her sarcasm and how good she was for Archie. And most importantly, it’s because Betty chose him to be in her life and now that he was no longer standing at the side lines, he wasn’t sure why he ever chose to be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Love it ? Hate it? Lemme know !


End file.
